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EmilÃ­ana Torrini, “Heartstopper”

Outside your house
To make a scene
In my head you grabbed me passionately
But the lights are out
And in an hour I walk on home
In the pouring shower

A couple of years ago, Lucy told me about Last.fm. Like most interesting things, I went to have a look, but never really made my way to being a full user. The idea intrigued me, but I had a pretty steady supply of new music from “other sources.” Things have changed, however, and I’ve been revisiting the site. Most of the time, when I’m feeling like my life has gotten into a bit of a rut, a great new album will pull me out. Or, indeed, a great old album. These tend to be seasonal, but they almost always do the trick. And that’s where I’m at with “Fisherman’s Woman” by EmilÃ­ana Torrini.

Despite my love of groups like Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam, I’m really a great big sucker for well-written stuff from singer-songwriters like Keren Ann, Laura Gibson, Natalie Merchant, etc. This album has a delicate, earnest sensibility that I’m really coming to love. Of course, I never would have reached this point if not for my decision to revisit Last.fm. (1) Some of the things that I miss most about having constant contact with friends who are passionate about music are the recommendations of neat little bands that I wouldn’t have thought to look for. While it’s somewhat quirky, at times, Last.fm really does do a great job of playing songs that “sound like” a band that you’re into. Of course, it helps to take the time to feed it your interests (2), but the software’s pretty good regardless.

I suppose there really isn’t too much to say about this particular phenomena. It works, and it’s cool, and you should try it. Heck, it’s even free. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a like having a cool friend who slides you tapes once in a while (3). This Torrini album was a great buy, and I’m really glad I found it. I had sort of thought that I was going to plateau in my pursuit of new, interesting music, and I’m very glad to be wrong. So, here’s one of my finds. Personally, I like to think of it as something out of one of the old “What If?” Comics. In this case, it’s “What if BjÃ¶rk had become an acoustic rocker?” At any rate, here’s the video: (4)

I know. This is starting to sound like an infomercial. What can you do? [Back]

I do this with a WinAMP plugin which “scrobbles” the information to my account. [Back]